Dark Omen Of Adoration
by kaaayyytteee
Summary: A commonly asked question is: 'What am I' After falling mysteriously into Halloween town, Othella must answer that question, with her friends help of course. Jack/OC & Sally/OC
1. Chapter 1

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Warm honey brown and icy turquoise orbs snapped open, a pained groan coming from the owner of the mismatched orbs. She snarled, roughly rubbing at her face and forcing herself up on her elbows, her back chilled from the frozen ground beneath her. She surveyed her surroundings, nervously whipping her head around. Where was the water?

Silently pushing up into a crouch, she peered around her surroundings once more. Her breathing was far too shaky, her form already starting to tremble. The last place she'd remembered being at was her home, and the wasteland currently she found herself in was a far cry from the warm beaches of South Carolina.

She seemed to be in a graveyard of sorts, tombstones seemed to go on for miles in crooked, unorganized rows. The landscaping was haphazardly treated, the grass was either too short and moss-like, or too long, spiky and dry. There were random patches of mud, and all the trees were bare except for a few sprigs of orange leaf-lings. Shakily standing to her feet, the girl tried to find a way out of the miserable graveyard.

After a few moments of panic, she decided on trudging up a nearby hill, hoping that the elevation would help her scope out a way to freedom. Her flip flops weren't the best choice of hiking shoes, but they were better than going barefoot. Her red and tan striped bohemian ankle-length skirt whipped in the wind, too thin to fend off the chill. Her red halter top tankini was also not made for such weather, but when she had gotten dressed this morning, it had been 96 degrees, perfect weather for her beach-like garb.

Her long hair had been braided that morning in a curved dutch braid, the tail of the braid reaching the middle of her shoulder blades. Her bangs were free, and were whipping around in the wind, stabbing her in the eyes almost every time she blinked.

"God..freaking..augh!" She groaned, stumbling up the hill. Finally reaching the top, she sighed when she spotted a large, black gate. She practically sprinted down the hill, holding her skirt so she wouldn't trip. She ran so fast she as barley able to stop herself when she came upon the tall, wrought iron gate. She slinked through one of the holes in the rusted posts, and followed the dirt road.

Crossing her arms and cupping her elbows, the young woman began to walk softly down the muddy road. She didn't see anything that looked even slightly familiar. She didn't even see any car tire marks on the road she was walking on. Biting her lips, the Irish woman couldn't ignore the feeling of being watched, her suspicions confirmed when three children suddenly appeared on the road.

She blinked owlishly at the three kids, who were dressed up in costumes: a witch, a devil and a little zombie.

"Excuse me? Small children, uh..where are we?" She asked, her eyes growing wider as the zombie and the witch took a few steps away from her.

"Woah! Don't leave, I'm not going to kidnap you or anything. Just..please tell me where we are." She asked, nervously fisting the fabric of her skirt. The three gave each other confused glances, then peered back at her with the strangest looks. The little witch stepped forward, scratching her wiry black locks.

"You're in Halloween Town. I'm Shock, those two are Lock and Barrel." The girl said, her voice a strange consistency of an innocent child's coo and a smoker's drawl.

O's POV:

"H-Halloween Town?" I asked, watching the trio nod their heads in unison. Suddenly, the little zombie boy was by my side, tugging at my hand.

"C'mon! We'll take you to the mayor! You're lost, you're lost!" He said happily, pulling a half eaten lollipop out of his pocket. Which one was this little zombie? Was he Barrel or Lock, I really couldn't recall. Confusion had really flustered my thoughts, and my mental filters didn't seem to be working too well.

"The mayor? Don't we need an appointment or something?" I cringed as the trio laughed, the witch walking along my unoccupied side as the devil boy ran ahead of us.

"No, we'd only need an appointment if it was a good day." Shock sighed, re-adjusting her pointy hat.

"So..today's a bad day then?" I questioned.

"Oh absolutely, today's absolutely horrific." The little witch seemed disturbingly happy about that. I cringed a little, attempting to smile.

"What's your name lady? What are you? You're too tan to be a vampire, but you're not green enough to be a witch." The little zombie boy asked. Shock hissed, reaching across my legs to swat at him.

"Ignore Barrel. He's mostly made of hot hair and melted candy." Shock hissed, her eyes narrowing. I laughed shakily, patting Barrel's short green hair.

"It's quite alright. I'm Othella."

That answer seemed to appease the two children, and we walked on for around 20 minutes, when a panting Lock came sprinting back towards us. His eyes were wide with joy, and his little red tail was wagging back and forth.

"It's the semi-annual fright fest! C'mon, it's just started!" The devil boy cheered, spinning back and racing towards the sound of loud, singing voices.

"Wait, fright fest?" I asked, being dragged down the road by Shock and Barrel. They were cackling wildly, bouncing up and down.

"It's like a mini-Halloween!" Barrel screamed, his eyes big with joy. "Jack has this twice a year so we can practice our 'collective scaring'!" Barrel cackled, somehow managing to run faster. Shock was giggling, holding onto her pointed hat with her free hand.

"It's positively dreadful, Othella!" Shock giggled.

"Yes, it's a scream!" Barrel added as we passed a scarecrow. The scarecrow's head was an unlit jack o'lantern, and a sign pointing to the direction that we were running said 'Halloween Town'. Had I been sleepwalking again? Maybe I sleep walked myself into one of those all year 'round horror theme parks.

Great.

I never was a big fan of those parks.

I steeled myself for whatever it was I was about to face, clutching Barrel and Shock's hands tightly. Another wrought iron gate came into view, but there was civilization behind it. Large, dark, crooked buildings lined the whole street, all sorts of people in costume were mucking around in the street.

Witches, zombies, werewolves, mummies, swamp creatures, mutants and other strange creatures were running around, some jumping out at the others and screaming, an attempt at a quick scare. The two kids kept dragging me further and further into the town, my flip flops digging into the cobblestone as I tried to stop moving.

"Ah!" Something screamed, jumping out of an alleyway that we were passing. A tall werewolf, with pointed features and black fur leapt out at us, claws drawn. Shock and Barrel screamed, jumping back, but quickly dissolved in a fit of giggles. I yelped, falling on my ass and crawling backwards away from the monster. Instead of giggling, I felt tears come to my eyes and my shoulders began to shake. I felt someone tap my shoulder and I turned my head to see a large clown.

"What's wrong, scared?" The clown cackled, ripping off his face to reveal a large, black hole. I screamed, scrambling to my feet and running as fast as I could away. I heard people shout and the sound of raining glass behind me as I ran. I heard horrified gasps and some shouts, but I just kept running.

As I raced down the cobblestone street, other creatures of the night would jump out and grab at me. Each time I would scream, causing the monsters to cover their ears, and whatever glass that was around us to shatter. I kept running, narrowly dodging a beautiful woman that looked like a stitched up rag doll.

Sobbing, a ran face first into someone's chest. Expecting it to be another monster, I looked up to see..a normal face. He was paper white pale, with dark black hair that was pushed to the side and dark blue, almost black orbs. His dark eye brows were shaped gorgeously, and his cheekbones were high.

"Hush..nothing bad will happen..shh.." The tall man cooed, gasping the back of my head and hid my face in his chest. He smelled like oak wood and Coca-Cola, and he was very warm.

"Sally..Sally, let's get her to the Mayor.." The tall man whispered, picking me up.

"He might have a little...emotional problem. Let's bring her to Beatleman and Taranza." A sweet voice said, and I felt someone run their hand through my hair. Everything still felt foggy, my body still shaking and my eyes slowly sliding shut.

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Ted Aceo looked down at the small girl sleeping in his arms, then back at his friend, Sally the patchwork girl. The lovely red head sighed worriedly down at the small girl, petting her blue hands through the braided caramel strands. Ted was a vampire, a rather strong one at that, but he wasn't too much into this whole...scaring business.

That's actually how he and Sally had met, the two had meet many years ago sneaking away from the fright fest festivities in search of something more peaceful. Ted thought Sally was the most beautiful girl in all of Halloween Town, but she still wasn't ready for a relationship. Sally and Jack had broken their relationship off around six months into it, apparently the two couldn't be comfortable around each other. All Sally wanted was some peace and tranquil time, while Jack wanted to go off an adventure, scaring the crud out of whoever he came across.

Despite the conflict of interest, the two were still very good friends, often having lunch together and Jack asking Sally for advice when something wasn't going right. The two were considerably more happy as friends than as a couple, and they both had agreed that they'd had their fun, but it simply wouldn't last.

Ted, was thankful. The tall vampire had been pining over the stitch doll ever since she was first created and he was a new comer to Halloween Town. He thought she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen, right down to her long, dark eyelashes. He'd been able to keep his crush under wraps, but it was getting harder to hide as they spent more time together.

The two monsters rushed off to their friend Taranza's home, she was a zombie, but had been a nurse in her Earth-life. She'd know how to fix the girl, and hopefully tell them what she was. She was far too pale to be a vampire, didn't have the rotting skin of a zombie, or the green witch skin tone.

The two raced across the town, worrying about their new found mystery companion.


	2. Oogie

I wanna say thanks to my reviewers (: I know I haven't been working too much on this story, but I'm slowly pumping it out (:

Thanks so much to my gorgeous reviewers: LeoLover95, blackcat711, Kaimaler, Jackalin Hodkinson, and The-Gothic-Princess1

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I yawned, smacking my dry lips to try and dispel the strange taste in my mouth that resorted from just waking up. That was the strangest goddamn dream I've ever had. I yawned again, managing to push myself up into a sitting position and knuckling my closed eyes.

"Good morning, small one."

Blinking, I looked up to see a stout, portly woman wearing a long, floral moo moo. Her lips were pale white, the rest of her skin was a light blue hue, even her hair was a dark blue color. Yelping, I scrambled backwards against the wall as the chubby woman sat down at the edge of the bed.

"I'm Taranza. You're at me and me husband's house. Ted an' Sally brought ya' here." She said softly, a gentle look on her rather scary face. If you looked past it though, she had this strange beauty about her. I noticed there was a tattoo on her hand, a once red cross that had faded and turned a strange burnt umber color against her blue skin tone.

"Back when I was alive, I was a nurse." Taranza said, seeing me looking at her tattoo. "They weren't sure how Jack and the Mayor would react to ya', so they brought ya' to me." She said, patting my leg. Wait..alive? Wasn't Shock, Lock and Barrel supposed to bring me to see the mayor?

"Where am I? W-wheres the three kids? Barrel, Lock and Shock..T-they..were gonna bring me to see the mayor." I managed to stutter out. Taranza smiled, handing me a strangely shaped cup filled to the brim with amber liquid. Taking a sip, I recognized it as apple cider, and slowly continued to drink it.

"You met those three? Tsk tsk tsk." The motherly woman clicked, her eyes downcast. She took a deep breath, and looked up at me with her yellow orbs.

"Sweetie..you're in Halloween Town..this is..uhm..well..the home of what human's perceive as monsters. When we die, certain people choose where they go. Heaven, to wander the world as angels or ghosts, to help cupid, to help Santa Claus, and all the other holidays in between." Taranza said softly. I coughed on my apple cider.

"S-so I'm dead?" I gasped, starting to tremble. Taranza laughed, patting my cheek.

"Oh no my dear, you're very much alive. Your heart is still beating. We just need to figure out how you got here." She cooed. "I can't believe that the trio didn't..well..hurt you."

"Who, those kids? They were..nice." I said. "They said some pretty strange stuff." Taranza laughed, wiping away a jolly tear from her eye.

"Oh yes..I remember my first day in Halloween Town. When we say that something his horrifying, horrible, bad, we actually mean it's wonderful, amazing, good. Vice versa. It's a little tricky." Taranza said, taking my empty cup from my hands. A bang from the other room had me alert, watching the doorway worriedly. Taranza laughed, batting her lashes at the large zombie-fied man that strode into the room, two others trailing behind him.

The man was a zombie, with grey-green skin and black eyes. He was very stout and chubby, and had no hair. Behind him was two other monsters, who looked somewhere around my age, 22. One was a grotesquely tall man, wearing a black suit with long coat tails, a red button up collared shirt, long black pants and no shoes. He had pretty ruby eyes, and his black hair was parted to the side, a contrast to his paper white skin. Blinking, I recognized him as the boy who I ran into, the one that smells like oak wood and Coca-cola.

There was a girl behind him, that had the most beautiful white-periwinkle stitched skin. Her waist length auburn red hair was pin straight and flowed down gorgeously. She was wearing a patchwork dress, and had big, wide black eyes. I smiled, waving at the three new comers.

"Beat...she's met with the wonderful trio." Taranza said worriedly. I had to remind myself that wonderful was actually _bad_ in this place. The tall, slim man gasped, opening his mouth to reveal two sharp teeth. More like fangs, this dude was a vampire.

"How? Those three..where?" The large, fat man said, turning to me. The stitch doll smiled at me gently, coming and sitting beside Taranza and I on the bed.

"I'm Sally. Do you mind telling me where you were when you first noticed you were..well, here?" She asked, placing her soft, blue hand on mine. I nodded, feeling an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort coming from the stitch doll.

"I was in a graveyard. I-I..there was a black iron gate. I'm Othella." I said, smiling at the woman.

"I'm Ted, this is Taranza's husband Beatleman." The vampire said, swatting playfully at the zombie man.

"It's uh...horrible to meet you?" I said it in more of a question, making the whole room burst out into giggles.

"Don't worry, the language change will come to you eventually." Sally smiled. I shrugged, turning my attention to Ted.

"You're the one that helped me...thank you." I nodded, smiling up at the tall vampire. He smiled shyly, once again flashing his pointed fangs.

"WAIT!" Beatleman shouted, turning to look at his wife. "Again, where did she meet those three rebel rousers! Did they hurt you at all?" He asked, his black eyes filled with rage. He must not like those three little kids, but how could you not! They're little kids! Little kids are adorable! Taranza had already asked me if they'd hurt me, maybe they were dangerous.

Pfff, no they weren't. They were just little dudes.

"I met them when I managed to find the road to town. They were very nice, but I lost them when I started to run away from all the people who kept jumping out at us." I murmured, scratching the back of my neck. Beatleman clapped his hands together, giggling.

"Oh yes, last night was a most gruesome fright fest!" Beatleman cackled, drumming his fingers together. He must have caught the grimace on my face, and his smile dropped.

"You're a peace-lover like these three, aren't 'cha?" He asked dully, smiling as his wife playfully battered her eyes at him. I shrugged, trying not to insult him and his obvious love for scaring the crap out of people.

"I don't really like things..jumping out at me." I said, feeling a bit foolish for saying something so bluntly. Ted laughed, wrapping his arms around Sally and Taranza's shoulders.

"You'll get along just fine with us. C'mon, let's bring you to Jack. He'll probably be able to figure out how you came to be here." Sally said softly, standing and taking her hand in mine. I stood shakily, holding the woman's patchwork hand when the sound of the door breaking down startled us.

"You three broke my door!" Beatleman stated the obvious, pointing angrily at Lock, Shock and Barrel who stood in the door way. They cackled, racing into the house and causing mayhem. Lock began knocking down furniture, while Shock and Barrel started breaking anything they could get their hands on.

Taranza screamed, snatching up a broom and swatting at the little devil. Sally and I were separated in the chaos, dust flying up from the dirty ground. I heard Ted call for Sally as the dirt rose into the air so thickly that it was akin to fog. I coughed, doubling over and feeling a small hand take mine.

"Let's getcha outta here!" Barrel shouted over the rumble, tugging me towards the open door. I followed, stunned by what the heck was going on. Barrel led me outside and started dragging me farther away from the house. A large tree house came into view, with a large bird cage acting as a elevator to the house.

"W-what?" I asked, but I was cut off by Barrel.

"It's our home. We were spying on you, and we can't let them take you to Jack!" Barrel cried, stuffing us into the cage and wheeling us up into the tree house.

"Why is that bad? The others said he'd know what was going on." I said, stepping out of the elevator and into the..less than hygienic decor. Old candy and their wrappers littered the floor in sticky looking puddles. Roaches and creepy crawlies of all kinds seemed to be snoozing around the well-lived in place.

I felt my bare feet stick to the floor, and I tried to hold back a cringe. Barrel scoffed, picking a half eaten lollipop up off the floor and taking a big lick. I twitched a little as he made a sour face, and spit a small cock roach onto the floor. I gagged, and began to wring my hands together nervously.

"Those goody goodies don't know crud. The Oogie Boogie knows what's up with you." Barrel smiled, stuffing the lollipop into his mouth.

"O-Oogie Boogie..he sounds a little..badder than someone named Jack." I said honestly, scratching the back of my head and sitting down on a sofa that looked like it had seen better days. Barrel laughed again, taking a seat next to me and scratching his sharp blue nails against the rough fabric.

"You don't know Oogie Boogie like we do.." Shock laughed, she and Lock appearing in the doorway and skipping into the tree house.

"Oh, is he a nice man?" I asked, holding my hands against my knees. The three looked at each other before shrugging.

"Sure. I guess. C'mon, down the slide!" Barrel cackled, running towards a giant freaking hole in the wall. He jumped down head first, screaming happily the whole way down. Gulping, I followed the two younger children towards the hole, which looked dark and ominous. Shock grabbed my hand and gave me a kind smile, and tugged me down the slide with her.

It was pitch black, bumpy and very hot. I closed my eyes, clutching Shock and letting out another scream. The slide around us seemed to rumble, and I heard the tinkle of screws becoming un-screwed and falling down the slide with us.

"The slide's falling apart!" Shock exclaimed, clutching onto my shoulders. We heard Lock scream, right before the slide spit us out onto hard ground.

"I'll never get used to that.." Shock mumbled from her landing spot on top of Barrel.

"Oogie Boogie can tell you what's going on!" Shock said, turning towards the exit of the slide to see Lock be spewed out, holding his head.

"That slide needs some readjustments." Lock groaned, shaking his sharp tail.

A sudden cold and chilling laughter filled the room. I jumped, not expecting the spine tingling noise and my mismatched eyes swept around the room. The trio seemed calm, and were lounging around the large arena-like room. Strange casino like furniture littered the room, and walls of weapons that gleamed down at me at all four sides.

"O0oh...I haven't seen one of you in my area for quite a long time."

I spun slowly in a circle, trying to find the apparently floating voice.

"W-what do you mean? A human hasn't been in Halloween Town for a long time?" I asked. The voice laughed, and the sound of clapping reached my ears.

"Oh..that's a good joke. You, HUMAN." The voice giggled, snorting. I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest and tried to take a defensive posture.

"Then you know what I am? Why don't you share then oh ghostly one? Why don't these three want me to see that Jack guy?" I asked, straightening my shoulders and standing tall. The voice growled, and the trio snapped to attention. They looked around at each other worriedly, watching me carefully.

"That dumb bone bag..he's got what's mine! Mine, mine, mine, mine, MINE. He'll pay..yes, he'll pay for his trespasses. You don't want to go to him girl..he would just hold you back. I can give you your identity, tell you your story of how you got here, show you to control your power, and become all powerful." The voice cackled, verging on insanity.

"Just tell me what the hell is going on." I demanded, stomping my foot.

"My children have brought you here so I can tell you the truth.." The voice wisped, seemingly floating around me in circles.

"The truth of how I got here? I'm human, despite what you say and I don't care about these "powers", but I'd like to go home." I said, sitting down on the ground that looked like a roulette table. The voice was silent, but I could hear something that sounded like a hemp bag being dragged across the ground.

"I'm afraid you can't go back."

I growled, looking around the dark room and pressing down the whimper that cried to be heard.

"Why not.."

"You belong here..ba-.., no you cannot know yet...what is your name?" The voice giggled, like he knew the punch line to an hysterical joke.

"Othella..Who are you?" I whispered, hearing my voice flutter with fear.

"I'm the Boogie man.." He said, seemingly appearing from the shadows. "But you can call me Oogie Boogie."

A sack. The guy was a giant freaking hemp sack, which was apparently stuffed with..something wriggling. He had no eyes or a mouth, just gaping black holes. His hands and feet were just little cone stumps, no fingers or toes. I screamed, closing my eyes and crawling backwards. I opened my eyes as I heard Oogie Boogie shout, and saw him go flying across the room.

The sack-man smashed against the wall, knocking down a line of skeletons that were strung up along the wall by chains. Oogie moaned, rubbing his head and shooting me an amused look.

"Now that power's what I'm talkin' 'bout!" Oogie shouted, clapping his hands together. He pressed a large red button that was on the floor, and three..things popped up from the floor. The looked like giant metal playing cards, each wielding sharpened knives. I yelped as they literally popped out of nowhere, but didn't scream.

"Go ahead, knock 'em down!" Oggie cried, clapping his hands and looking overly excited.

"I..no, I don't..Did..did I do that to you? T-throw you across the room?" I asked, unbelieving as a giddy look crossed the monsters face. He giggled, and I could hear Lock, Shock and Barrel mumbling worriedly behind me. I shot them a confused look, and all three shrugged their shoulders, casting Oogie a worried look.

"SCREAM! Work them pipes girl!" Oogie ordered happily, clapping his stubby hands and kicking his legs. I took a deep breath and eyed one of the metal playing cards. They were huge, well above my height and looked to be made of thick, old metal. I tried to control the pounding of my chest as I took another deep breath.

I screamed at the first card, my hands clenched into fists and my feet spread equally apart. This time I screamed, I managed to keep my eyes opened, and I couldn't believe what I was watching myself do! Big blue circles sprang from my mouth like a beam of smoke rings. They sprang quickly towards the first card, knocking the metal sheet clear off it's hinges and sending it soaring against the far wall.

"Yes, yes, yes! That wicked Jack will rue the day!" Oogie cackled, and the trio behind me began to whisper even more.

"You will help me stop that evil bone bag, won't you?" Oogie said softly, trying to make a pleading face without..well..having a real face.

"What did he do that's so bad..?" I asked. What kind of monster would this Jack guy have to be to do something bad to a beast like Oogie.

"He stole my crown! I'm the true Pumpkin King..you must help me. He's a bad king, he rules with an iron fist! The people in town are suffering!" Oogie crowed, looking out towards the only window in his dungeon. He growled, shaking his fist towards the window, which gave a picaresque view of Halloween Town.

"H-he's hurting people..but the people in the town seemed..happy." I said, not recalling seeing any signs of poverty or suffering while I was in the town for a short amount of time. Oogie scoffed, crossing his arms across his hemp chest.

"You must have met with his...royal cabinet..they live in the rich part of town..yes, yes." Oogie said darkly, glaring at the window. I looked back at Shock, Lock and Barrel who's eyes were wide and frightened. They must be frightened of this Jack fellow! Hurting adults is one thing, but scaring children is a whole other story!

"I'll help you Oogie! But tell me, if I'm not human, what am I?" I stood up strongly. Oogie giggled happily, clapping his hands again and pulling a lever. A bunch of Christmas lights came on in various colors, making the dark place look even more like a dungeon-casino.

"That my dear will be the reward for your training and there is no time like the present! Let's get started!" Oogie cackled, pressing another button and more card targets popped up. I swallowed thickly, taking a defensive stance and clutching the edge of my skirt, just in case I'd have to dodge something.

"SCREAM!"

"RRRRRAAAA_AHHHHH_!"


End file.
